Author's note: And the na is chosen. For the record, I also liked Luna, Evangeline and a few others, but those nas are already reserved elsewhere. I already ntioned it before, but this is only a part of the bigger story I've imagined, and I can't really ignore the characters that have co before. I might even write about those other stories when I'm done with this one, or if I happen to hit a wall, I might even end up writing about one other story earlier than that, just because I really like the idea. That's a thing for the future though....
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Evening had co, and Neleh and Asheara were sitting outside their house looking at the stars. The academy grounds were quiet as many of the students were either tired from the recent rank-up tests, or gathering strength in preparation for the upcoming qualifiers. Teachers were mostly resting, having spent their energy to administer the tests. It was a nice evening that gave the impression of calm before the storm. Or in this case, calm between storms.
Are you sure you want to train the girl? Asheara asked suddenly. Shes already been through a lot, and as you yourself said, the training will be hard enough to break her.
Neleh had a thoughtful expression on her face. Its admittedly a hard decision to make, which is why Im letting her make that decision. On one hand she is choosing a very hard life, where she will most likely face difficulties beyond any normal person. On the other hand, she needs a purpose. She has lost everything. She could find love in a new family, and rebuild her life, but Ive seen people like her before. Its in her eyes. She is not the type to live quietly. She has a strong desire to live her life free of the burdens placed on her by others. Shes the type who can happily throw away her life in support of sothing she believes in, but will fight with all her power against a purpose laid on her shoulders by others. Neleh gave a small smile. She also shares one annoying trait with . She will get bored of quiet life very quickly.
Shes a child! Shes too young to make decision like this! Asheara huffed exasperated.
And who would make that decision for her? Her family is dead. We might want to provide her with a new family with ti, but we are not that family yet. We have no right to make that decision for her. Do note that I also gave her a chance to change her mind a year after I start her training. By then, she will have a better idea about what I expect of her, and she will also be able to create other options. At the mont she might feel like I am her only choice, but a year from now she will have other choices. In addition, I will have had the chance to teach her enough, that she wont be the useless child anymore, and will be able to have a proper life without the fear of the planet killing her. Neleh replied calmly.
Shes still too young for sothing like this. Asheara sighed stubbornly.
You should rember how young I was when I started training. In fact, considering the fact, that the lack of magic or Ki in her body has most likely slowed her growth, she is probably only a couple of years younger than I am now. Neleh reminded her mother.
Well youre not exactly the standard to asure people by. You have mories reaching back hundreds if not thousands of years. Asheara replied a little amused.
Youre right. And heres the thing you havent realized yet. She isnt exactly standard either. One of the things that co with the powers her kind hold is heightened capacities of the mind. People like her mature faster and are usually a lot smarter than others of their age and kind. On the other hand, they usually also experience stronger emotions before they learn to control them. That girl is probably already smarter than most adults, but you cant see it yet because shes overco by the events that have happened and despite her increased maturity, she is still very young. With proper guidance she could beco the most intelligent person in the elven history, but shes not there yet. Neleh replied seriously.
More intelligent than you? Asheara asked with a sudden grin.
Well, the most intelligent after , but I barely qualify as an elf anyway. I also have a bit of a head start. Neleh grinned back.
Asheara gave a small sigh, Its a little hard to believe. You talked about people like her, how do you know she isnt one of the more normal ones?
She wasnt really showing it off yet, but you could see it in her eyes, and hear it in her speech. She adjusted too fast and understood complex concepts too easily. She might not have the wisdom brought by age yet, but her ability for understanding is great. Neleh replied confidently. Now all that said, the training I will provide might prove to be too taxing for her. I have to appear strict for the sake of that training, but if youre willing, Id like you to be her emotional support through this. Be the mother to her that she needs, and that I know you want to be.
Asheara was thoughtful for a mont. My youngest daughter Shiori. I think I like the sound of that. Would that make you the strict father? Our first child together? She teased with a grin.
Neleh gave a small chuckle. If that makes you feel better about the whole thing. At least I think Id make a better father than a certain soone we know. Even though I am very much female now.
Asheara suddenly beca more alert. Oh yea, I forgot. I think Michael and Gabriel both pretty heavily hinted that you were male in your previous life. Must have been a bit confusing to be born a girl.
The past is in the past. I still cant talk about my previous life in detail, retaining my mories is already a breach of the rules, but calling strictly male would not be entirely correct. My original race didnt really have a proper separation of genders. We did identify more with one sex or another, but it was more a case of which gender we found more attractive among the other races. I preferred females of other races, hence I identified as male. The bigger shock ca from the fact that my new body worked differently than the humanoid form I had gotten used to. Neleh replied in a quiet whisper barely audible to Asheara, as she was lost in mories.
So you had the ability to shapeshift to a degree? And used a male form? Asheara asked curious.
Well youve already seen use limited shapeshifting in this life, so it shouldnt be too much of a surprise. I did use a female form on a few occasions, when it was more appropriate. Neleh replied smiling from nostalgia.
So you still have the ability to shapeshift? Couldnt you simply return to your old form then? I an if you were more comfortable with that. Asheara asked, suddenly a little worried for many reasons. She felt that she would lose sothing as Nelehs family if the girl chose to take her old form. She had also fallen in love with Nelehs current form. Although the inside was more important than the looks, it would still be too jarring if Neleh were to suddenly turn male. And its not like the looks didnt matter at all, especially in Nelehs case.
Neleh could sense so of Asheara worry through the bond, and decided to explain more thoroughly. No need to be worried. Ive gotten used to my current form. Besides, shapeshifting isnt that simple. Currently I have trouble changing my shape at all, because Im still growing, and that interferes with the ability. Theres also the biggest fundantal law of shapeshifting. All beings capable of changing their form unconsciously try to revert the changes and return to their true form.
This is partly because our bodies affect our minds, but when soone shapeshifts, the mind isnt affected by the new form anymore. The mind tries to rebel against the unnatural body. This and the other myriad of problems manifest as a feeling of pressure and discomfort that grows worse the more ti you spend in the other form. Finally you are forced to return to your true form, when the pressure becos too much. The further the other form you have taken is from your true form, the faster that pressure builds. As you might imagine, changing ones gender is a pretty big change. When I reach maturity, I might be able to do it for a few hours, but currently that is impossible. The only reason I can change my shape at all right now, is because those are so of my old powers returning, and arent really counted as proper shapeshifting. Neleh finished with a sigh. The recent dragon transformation had been a good example of the difference.
Asheara thought for a while and then asked. So everybody has a true form, and thats the one youre born with?
Not necessarily. You can have more than one true form. Its actually common among so magical beasts to have both a true beast form and a true humanoid form. And in so cases, the true form changes. In my previous life, this was the case for too. Neleh replied carefully, trying again not to give too much of her old life away.
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They retained their silence for a long while after that. Neleh lost in mories and Asheara thinking about what she had learned. Suddenly a thought occurred to Asheara.
Michael and Gabriel ntioned the Enemy, and Ive seen you make preparations for upcoming trouble. I think its about ti you tell more about what we are facing. They said sothing about you defeating it before. She suddenly blurted out the thought that had suddenly taken form in her mind.
Neleh was quiet for a while. The Enemy is sothing that keeps coming back, no matter how often it is defeated. Even my powers as a Destroyer cant remove the Enemy for good. I cant tell you exactly what the Enemy is, because even I dont know all the details. That said, hopefully you wont ever need that information either. The problem is, the Enemy has powerful servants and we are likely to draw the attention of at least a couple of those servants in the future. Those servants I can explain.
You should probably also pay attention to the next part Neleh sent the thought to Elune.
Neleh gathered her thoughts on how to best explain things. You heard before, how the role of a Destroyer is to destroy certain worlds, and it isnt too hard to imagine how so worlds can destroy themselves even without any help from us. What do you imagine happens to the deities of those destroyed worlds?
Asheara hesitated for a mont and shook her head as an answer. She was shocked when she could also hear the voice of Elune talking to both of them. "I would imagine they either perish with the worlds they once ruled over, or try to find new worlds."
Partially true. So deities do end up like that, but most will not. Most lose the power they gained from their followers, but in exchange they beco similar to those immortals that would usually be forced to go to the Eternal Sea of the Immortals. Extrely powerful beings with a lot of inherent knowledge, except they are not bound by the sa rules as either deities or mortals would. These beings then feel the call of the Enemy and co under its control. The Enemy is not a force of creation, so how can it gather any forces to make war with? It enslaves these lost-deities. The lost-deities then go and gather the forces the Enemy requires. The weaker lost-deities join forces and go into other worlds and enslave so of the races they find, while the stronger ones are capable of creating their own race ant for war. The lost-deities and the races they command are what we usually called factions. A weak faction might be a single lost-deity that managed to enslave an empire of humans or monsters, while a strong faction might be a group of powerful lost-deities that created and bred their own army of dragons for war. Neleh finished with a small shudder.
And you think one of these factions might co here? Asheara asked with trepidation.
One or more. We have no way to know the extent of the danger we are facing. We also cant be sure when they will co. They might co in a few decades, or they might co in a few centuries. They might co one at a ti with centuries between factions, or they might co several at once. Only thing we do know is that they are coming. Thats one of the reasons Im so keen on training Shiori. Sooner or later she will see war, and Id rather she had the power to defend herself. She could also be a great asset in fighting against the Enemy. Neleh said grimly.
This is a lot to take in. Thanks for telling , honey. Asheara finally said and went inside the house, leaving Neleh alone with the beautiful view of the night sky.
After a while Neleh heard the voice of Elune again. I think I finally figured out what you ant when you said that the last ti the Enemy ca, you went too heavy, and that this ti would be worse than last ti. You went straight for the Enemy and left all the factions untouched. Now we face all the surviving factions, as well as those that the Enemy has managed to gather since then.
That is part of it, but not the whole of it. Were you listening when Michael guessed that the reason Im not willing to really form deep bonds of love, is that the worst thing that can happen to the world is a Destroyer blinded by rage? Do you know why he guessed that so easily? Neleh asked with a grief laden voice.
Its because it would not be the first ti, isnt it? You had once ford such bonds and went into a blind rage. Elune asked almost rhetorically in a sad voice.
That would be what I ant when I said I gave into my darker nature. I had another family once. I tried living in peace, but then the Enemy ca. I managed to get my revenge, but in my grief I didnt care who paid the price for it. You know what fuels my powers as a Destroyer, and believe when I tell you that beating the Enemy forced into using those powers often and hard. The only reason this didnt beco an issue when I was reincarnated, was because the Enemy would have caused a hundred tis more destruction than I did, if I had not done what I did. Neleh replied almost numbly.
And those worlds had their own deities, which now fill the Enemys ranks. Elune finished the thought sadly.
Exactly. So not only did my heavy handed approach leave the previous factions untouched, but I also gifted them with new lost-deities that now have their own factions. I do not envy the work the Celestial Host and Inferno are facing. Neleh finished with a sigh.
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Shiori was ashad. She had let the child out. Due to her intelligence, she had matured much faster than any of her peers. This, and the fact that the people around her family viewed her as broken because of her lack of magic and Ki, had forced her into hiding any traces of the childishness that she had left. Her parents had already been forced into dealing with enough trouble because of their weird child, that she could not add to their burden with any childish demands of her own. One of the reasons they had left their old village, and joined the caravan that had been attacked by the bandits, was that the people of their old village regarded Shiori as an oddity at beast, a monster at worst. A broken child that was too smart. Unnatural.
So she had been forced into living her life as a sort of balancing act. She acted mature and didnt hide her intelligence with her parents, and she tried to act quiet and subdued while hiding her intelligence with everyone else. Her childish side was buried, preferably for good. Her parents would be burdened if she acted childish, and the others, the an people, would be encouraged to bully her more if she showed her childish side, or if she showed how much their words and actions hurt. So she had chained and buried any vestiges of childish desires she had left.
Except now she had let the child out. The death of her parents had broken her resistance, and the presence of the woman nad Neleh had done sothing to her. Perhaps even worse, Neleh had also seen right through her. The woman had noticed that she was different and more intelligent than she should be. And yet, she didnt seem to hold that against Shiori. She wasnt sure how to feel about Neleh.
Shiori had so slight basic control over her powers. If she closed her eyes, she could see the minds of others in the darkness, like small flas from candles. Whenever she was in a city, the darkness in her mind was like a sea of candles. She had tried to reach for the minds of other people, but had so far been unsuccessful. The bigger the fla the harder her attempts had been rebuffed. If most minds were like candles in the darkness, then so of the bigger ones were like torches or the fire of a fireplace. Once or twice she had seen a mind the size of a bonfire from a distance. Eventually Shiori had realized that the bigger the fla the stronger the mind.
When she had woken up after the attack, she had sensed the presence of a very powerful mind, and now she knew that mind belonged to the one known as Neleh. They had ntioned that Neleh was the Chosen, but that would not explain what Shiori saw in her mind. When she closed her eyes, she could see the raging inferno that was the mind belonging to Neleh. If normal minds were like candles, then Nelehs mind was like seeing the sun at close range. Except the sun was shaped like a majestic bird of fire. Before this, the little sea of flas in her mind had been fun and maybe a little weird, but for the first ti a mind in the darkness made her afraid. Strangely the power of Neleh was also comforting.
Shiori knew that the great power of Neleh could snuff out her fla without any effort, if she so chose. On the other hand, for the first ti in her life Shiori also felt safe. If she could get close to the great power, then she would no longer need to feel afraid. If she could beco close to the great power, even make it part of her family, then she would no longer need to feel fear about losing the one she got close to. She didnt need to feel like the small problems she caused would burden her loved ones. The great bird of fire could easily carry such feeble burdens and not even notice them. And perhaps the most important thing was that the great fire might help her get strong as well.
She could turn from a burden to soone who could help carry the burdens of others. She could finally be free of ridicule and scorn. The eyes of others would no longer look at her and think monster. For when standing by the side of the great fla, who would pay attention to soone like her and her oddly sharp mind? She might be able to live her life as she saw fit. And maybe, just maybe, she might also be able to help the great fla. Not that Neleh would need her help. But one could always hope. Hope. For the first ti since others discovered how strange she was, Shiori felt hope. Hope that she could finally live as just herself, not hiding her nature.
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